


Family of the Stray

by soprana



Series: Stray Series [5]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-10-23 04:09:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17676203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soprana/pseuds/soprana
Summary: “…Where is the coffin?” Lucy blurted, leaning close to see the same pink packing peanuts that the other large, empty boxes had.“Coffin?” Natsu parroted in confusion.“The coffin where you sleep?” Lucy clarified as she plucked up one of the peanuts.





	Family of the Stray

Lucy figured she should know better by now. After all the learning experiences and the debunking of myths, she of all people should keep an open mind and heart. After all, she had spent most of her life battling the stereotypes pitted against her. Who was she to pin them on others?

In the movies, it was normal to see vampires living in caves, coffins, and abandoned mansions. It was normal to fear them. After all, their main diet was human. The darkness was their ballpark and humans weren’t even contenders in the game.

Lucy expected to see sinister sneers, dark clothing, and dreary decor.

She expected to see dead mice and human bones; coffins as far as the eye can see.

 

A warehouse wasn’t where she expected a coven of vampires to be crashing. It was a large, pasty white warehouse like any other in the industrial park. On occasion, she often jogged past it on the days she dragged her ass out of bed and actually exercised.

But yes, a warehouse full of blood-suckers was evidently the case and Natsu was a proud member.

She figured she was a pale comparison to him, meekly following behind him as he marched into the place like he owned it, his mouth bellowing out greetings that echoed around.

He told her he just needed to pick up a few things before they went to the movies, not draw attention to how she was a walking blood bag. Even now, the bristling on her spine was not to be ignored as the feeling of eyes stuck to her skin. Natsu’s self control had proven to be stellar but her trust in him didn’t apply to the rest.

Her thoughts stuttered when she walked right into Natsu’s back. “Ow, Natsu.” she said, rubbing her nose as she peered around him, “What have we talked about with the sudden-”she paused, taking in the individuals in front of them.

The red-head was exceptionally beautiful, her skin like sculpted ivory and her outfit of the finest silks. Her eyes were sharp, however, Lucy shivering at how they seemed to strip her down to her very soul.

There was a black-haired man, onyx eyes also picking her apart like she was food: although she technically was. His lips frowned when he turned to look up at Natsu, almost disgusted. “Dude, you’re late. We were waiting for ages!”

In front of her, Natsu bristled. “Not my fault! Lucy takes forever to get ready!”

Her bones felt like lead. So, Natsu lied to her. She had found it odd that he needed to drop by, seeing as he usually never needed anything besides clothes and blood. Ice flooded her veins at the idea that Natsu meant to bring her here all along, into the center of a vampire coven. For what, she had no idea…and she was starting to fear the answer.

“Gray, you’re scaring her!” The smaller, blue haired girl chided, smacking him lightly on his side. Her tiny shoes were pigeon toed, her body bouncing on the balls of her feet. “Sorry about him, Natsu has told us a lot about you! I’m so glad we finally get to meet you!” she chirped lightly, smiling and flashing two tiny fangs.

“Oh! Where are my manners, I am Erza-” the red head blurted, gesturing to the two next to her, “and this is Gray and Wendy. We have been most eager to meet you.”

Eager to ‘meet’ or 'eat’, Lucy thought sourly, making sure to send dagger glares at Natsu’s head before she smiled. “Hello, I’m Lucy and I hope he’s told you good things about me?” The awkwardness of this situation was out of this world. A human, greeting a few vampires in their hideout. What was that saying again?

Never got with a predator to a second location? Yeah, that one.

Erza smiled, showing her own pair of chompers, “Of course. Actually, we couldn’t get him to shut up about you.”

Lucy swore that if vampires could blush, Natsu would pass as a beacon. His back was stiff as he stuttered, “W-Was not!” He yanked his head to look at her, “Don’t believe a word they say, Lucy.”

“Right, and the pining didn’t happen either?” Gray quipped smugly.

Natsu pounced like a panther, snarling as he tackled Gray to the ground. “Shaddup you stripper!”

“Make me, you crazy pyro!” Gray roared back, the pair of them quite a sight rolling on the concrete floor. To her credit, Lucy was distracted enough to let Wendy walk up to her and take her hand gently. “They’ll be at this for a while. Come on and I’ll introduce you to the rest of our family!”

Lucy was about to protest, but then she saw Erza hoist the two men up: Natsu by his scarf and Gray by his pants leg. Her face was of fury, fury that would have had Lucy pissing her pants if directed at her. Maybe that’s why Natsu never liked talking about vampires that hunted with brute force.

So, she let the little vampire drag her around the warehouse of vampires, introducing each one while Erza creamed the two guys. There was a little old man that was the leader, his hands way to friendly for her tastes. She even met another human like herself; Levy was her name.

Apparently, this coven–Fairy Tail—had a strict 'no killing’ policy. The relief she felt must have been visible because many of the vampires actually laughed at her. It seemed that Natsu had inducted her as a human ally for the coven. She was not to be touched. Her body relaxed even more as a vampire named Cana joked about why Natsu would even care about such a thing.

Around that time, Natsu appeared again as if he hadn’t been destroyed by Erza, slinging an arm around her shoulders with a grin. “Because Lucy is Lucy.” he answered with a beam, dragging her away from her new 'friends’ to give her the grand tour.

After walking down many aisles filled with assorted boxes from Fedex, Amazon, and the mail service, Lucy’s curiosity grew to uncomfortable levels. A hoard of vampires lived here, yet there were only boxes and tinted windows to prove it.

“So, how can you all stay here?” she started with, already knowing they missed the movie time. Plus, this was a far more interesting place to be. This was where her stray vampire called home.

“As long as we sort packages to the right recipients, the owners don’t really care. We are cheap labor, really.” Natsu answered lightly, browsing the boxes with a sharp look in his eyes. “Give us a place to live and don’t blab, we’ll sort packages for free!”

Lucy paused, blinking. That was… pretty ingenious.

“Ah, here we are!” Natsu said brightly, holding out his arms to present a single box on the bottom shelf. The label 'Dyson Cordless’ told Lucy that it once held a vacuum, although she didn’t understand its importance to the vampire. “Home sweet home!”

Huh?

“…Where is the coffin?” Lucy blurted, leaning close to see the same pink packing peanuts that the other large, empty boxes had.

“Coffin?” Natsu parroted in confusion.

“The coffin where you sleep?” Lucy clarified as she plucked up one of the peanuts.

“Oh! No, we all sleep in these babies.” He proudly patted a cardboard flap. “Coffins are expensive, you know? And we definitely don’t want them used! Bleck!” He gagged comically, practically diving into the box and showering her in peanuts.

At her giggle, he popped his head up, pink hair littered with peanuts as he grinned toothily. “So, I’m not some hobo vampire like you said the other day! I have a place to live.”

“Natsu, that was a joke.” Lucy stressed, running a dainty hand down her face. Of course the 400 year old vampire didn’t quite get sarcasm.

His expression blanked. “…oh.” he hummed before flopping back into his box.

Lucy stood there awkwardly, pulling down at her skirt while her eyes scanned the apparent miles of warehouse.

She could hear them partying and laughing, the echoes reaching even the darkest parts of the warehouse. Vampires…were just like humans. She blindly assumed only Natsu was nice.

“There was no movie plan, was there?” she asked, already knowing the answer.

Natsu’s head popped out of the box, his eyes glittering. “Nope. I wanted you to hang out with me at my place for once.”

Lucy let out a bark of laughter. “Natsu, you live in a box!”

He clasped a hand to his chest in mock offense, dark eyes nearly burning her with his gaze. “A quality box, Lucy.” he purred much to huskily to be considered innocent. Slowly, he moved to pat the outside with a quirk of his lips, showing of his own fangs. “You could join me.”

Pursing her lips, Lucy considered before smiling herself. “Nah, I have a better idea.” She waited for his interested look before pouncing, shoving his head in the box and trying to close the flaps. “I’m going to ship you somewhere!”

She heard his protests broken by his laughter, the box bobbing around as he tried to force his way out. Seconds passed before she let him out, laughing at the peanuts stuck in his nose. He had a dangerous look to him, his lips curled in a way that should be illegal.

“How about you ship me to your house then?” he growled cheekily, or as cheekily as he could while spitting out packing peanuts.

Her face felt like it was burning, so she did the best thing to stop her embarrassment.

 

She shoved her stray vampire back into the box with a squeak, howling when he chuckled and easily dragged her into the box with him.


End file.
